The Latest Planned Parenthood Video: Utterly Appalling

The Center for Medical Progress released another Planned Parenthood video today. It once again features Holly O’Donnell, a former technician for StemExpress, one of the buyers of baby parts from Planned Parenthood. The video consists mostly of Miss O’Donnell describing an incident in which a baby’s heart was still beating, and she was instructed to cut through the baby’s face so that his brain–the baby was a boy–could be removed for sale. It is utterly appalling.

There have been multiple hints in the CMP videos that some babies are born alive and then killed by Planned Parenthood. That appears to have been true in this case, and there is another such suggestion from a different witness. I would think that at a minimum, a criminal investigation is warranted.

Warning: this video is not for the faint of heart. I am not a sensitive guy, but I had to steel myself to watch it.

The liberal media are generally trying to ignore the CMP videos, hoping the controversy they have caused will go away. The New York Times is typical: it has not yet mentioned today’s video. It hasn’t covered the content of the videos, except to misrepresent them and to defend Planned Parenthood. For example, today’s Times includes a story on a Reuters poll that is headlined, “Americans back federal funds for Planned Parenthood health services: poll.” The poll asked about women’s health exams, prenatal services and contraception, not abortion. The Times story begins:

Americans broadly support providing federal funding for free women’s health exams, screenings and contraception services, a Reuters/Ipsos poll has found, suggesting risks for Republicans criticizing Planned Parenthood as part of the 2016 campaigns.

Notice how the reporter defaults straight to politics. Happily, not many Republicans take campaign advice from the Times.

The non-profit’s image has taken a hit, the poll found, after an anti-abortion group earlier this year began releasing videos purporting to show Planned Parenthood officials negotiating prices for aborted fetal tissue.

The Times tries to keep alive the fiction that there is some doubt about what the videos show. The videos do not “purport” to show PP officials negotiating prices for aborted babies’ body parts. They show PP officials negotiating prices for aborted babies’ body parts. They show a lot more than that, too.

You have to read to the very end of the Times story to be told that the Reuters poll is actually bad news for Planned Parenthood:

But 44 percent of respondents who saw the videos said they now have a more negative view of Planned Parenthood, compared with 34 percent who said their views were unchanged.

Those 34% must have had an awfully negative view of PP to begin with. This is the kicker:

After the videos were described to poll respondents, 39 percent said Planned Parenthood should not receive government funding and 34 percent said federal dollars should continue.

You can read the actual poll results here. To say that the videos were “described” is a stretch; here is the question that was asked, along with the results. Click to enlarge:

Imagine what the reaction would have been if respondents had been told that PP extracts brains from babies with beating hearts.

Maybe the most significant aspect of the Reuters poll is that 37% said they have seen at least one of the CMP videos. That number will inexorably continue to rise. So the left’s effort to suppress the news about what the videos show hasn’t been very successful.